Whilst philosophy can bamboozle and confuse the sanest of us in the world, the idea of the journey of life is incredibly important. Novelist C.S. Lewis once said “Hardship often prepares an ordinary person for an extraordinary destiny”, and this is one of my favourite quotes… Ever.

Throughout life many challenges are thrown our way, and it is down to us, and nobody else, as to how we react and respond to these challenges. Most of the time we can do one of two things:

1) We accept defeat.

2) We fight, and come out stronger

Each time we face hardship, and challenge it with gritted teeth, we become stronger people, and more able to face the world. The more prepared we are, to move on to achieve great and wonderful feats.

It is therefore not money, or stature that defines who we are today. It is instead the journey we have taken to reach where we are, and the challenges we have faced.

The reason I love my life so much today, and the reason I have the drive, energy, and determination to continue to strive for and achieve success, is without a shadow of a doubt because of the challenges I have faced in my life, and the setbacks I have suffered.

This is not a blog to make you feel sorry for me, or to blow my own trumpet. It is simply to make you realise that we all have an incredible ability to never be defeated.

The greatest challenge I ever faced was suffering a broken back, following a bad fall in gymnastics. Laying in my bed, strapped up and unable to move, the medical experts told me I was never going to walk again.

Imagine hearing that, as a young lad who’s passion is gym! Crushing! However, how do you think I reacted to this? Did I accept it? Or did I fight it?

DAMN RIGHT I fought it! I knew that I had to walk again. I had so much more to give, that there was no way I was going to be wheelchair bound for the rest of my life. So with steely grit and determination, and help from sporting physio’s, my back healed, and I set about walking again.

Now this was by no means easy, but nothing worth having in life ever is! So I slogged away at being able to walk again, and eventually reached my target. But did I stop there?

Hell no! I knew that gymnastics was my passion, and that I had to get back competing! I could not let this challenge beat me! So I went back to the gym, and started training. To cut a long story short, I became British champion. I went from having a broken back and being told I was never going to walk again… To the British champion.

This is just an example of how our challenges make us. Without that challenge, I may never have had the determination to make it as a champion. I may not have had the drive to achieve an extraordinary destiny.

Therefore, when any of us feel hardship in our lives, just remember one thing. It is a challenge. A challenge that if we accept, is preparing us for an extraordinary destiny.